Will San Mateo County Finally Fix a Dangerous Overpass for Cyclists?

The scene shortly after 47-year-old Lauren Ward was killed by a truck driver on November 4, 2010. Photo: Kent Fields for the Menlo Park Patch.

For the second time in a year, San Mateo County transportation officials are seeking funding for a proposal to improve conditions for bike riders at a dangerous highway interchange where a big-rig driver with a history of fatal collisions killed a 47-year-old Los Altos woman riding her bicycle less than two years ago.

The Interstate 280 and Alpine Road interchange is one of many highway overpasses on the Peninsula that lack bike infrastructure and pose severe hazards to bike riders. A narrow unmarked bike lane on Alpine Road, which looks like nothing more than a shoulder, leads to the interchange, but stops abruptly where the Caltrans right-of-way begins. Bike riders are forced to maneuver around speeding traffic headed to the freeway, and there is no signage or markings.

Yesterday, however, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution requesting $175,000 from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority (TA) to install bike lanes through the interchange. Caltrans, which is required to sign off on the project, has apparently been supportive.

The bike lane, which is essentially a narrow shoulder, ends where the Caltrans right-of-way begins. Photo: Google Maps

“We’re very pleased to see that the county is still pursuing funding to take care of this troublesome intersection,” said Colin Heyne, deputy director of the SVBC, who attended the supervisors meeting. “They’ve been working with SVBC and others in the area to make it safe and more comfortable for cyclists and motorists by getting rid of the ambiguities.”

Joe Lo Coco, a deputy director for the TA, told Streetsblog four proposed designs have been narrowed to two (D2 and D3), and said it’s possible the bike lanes would be painted green, something bike advocates have been pushing for.

Lo Coco said that the project will be competing with others for funding, and there’s no assurances it will pass. A similar request was rejected last year. This year’s application is being submitted as part of a request for highway project money because it would smooth out the flow of automobile traffic.

“It’s very vague where the bike lane is and it just dissipates into the ether,” said Heyne. “The argument is that that doesn’t promote efficient traffic flow when lanes fade into nothing because it causes confusion and eliminates efficiency.”

The application will undergo an internal evaluation process at the TA, and the agency will announce in early September whether the project makes the first cut. If it makes the recommended list of projects to be funded, it would require approval from the TA Board at its regular meeting September 6.

This story is part of Streetsblog San Francisco’s coverage of Silicon Valley. Got a tip or story idea we should be covering in Silicon Valley? Email bryan@sf.streetsblog.org.

Bryan Goebel is a reporter at KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. A veteran journalist and writer, he helped launch Streetsblog SF in 2009 and served as editor for three years. He lives car-free in the Castro District.

The fix looks as dangerous as the current condition. The “ramp” config needs to be changed to a “T” intersection. Ramps are dangerous to cyclists and pedestrians and encourage speeding. A regular signalized intersection would slow things down to a safer pace.

Anonymous

Agree. Paint can’t fix an intrinsically dangerous design.

Anonymous

I-280 & Page Mill Road is even worse than I-280 & Alpine Road. Hope Santa Clara County can get their act together and fix that one.

Anonymous

Yes on improvements but it isn’t worse. At least at Page Mill there is a stop sign coming off the freeway, and a bike lane.

http://opusthepoet.wordpress.com/ Opus the Poet

You do realize that there is an interstate highway involved in this configuration, don’t you? They don’t “do” intersections, they have ramps.

http://twitter.com/murphstahoe murphstahoe

Opus – there are thousands of interstate highway entrance/exits that have signals or stop sign controls. For example, the next exit down 280 from Alpine, Page Mill Road. 280 is a freeway, fine. Alpine Road is not a freeway.

bradtaft

Best way to solve these highway interchange problems? Slow speed limits and speed cameras. If no motor vehicle was going over 25 MPH before getting to the on ramp, the bicycle-car encounter in these situations would be drastically improved. All the cars and trucks have the capability to accelerate to hwy speed on the on-ramp, but they insist on doing it prior to the on-ramp causing unsafe conditions for cyclists. It should be like an F1 pit-lane speed limit.
1) Within 100m of an on-ramp crossing a bike lane, the speed limit is 25 MPH.
2) Speed cameras, issuing citations of ~$500 if these speeds are exceeded.

Motorists will have no reason to speed ahead of cyclists and cut them off, because they won’t be allowed to. Cyclists will feel much safer. Motorists will get to the HWY traffic jam about 4s later than they would have, and it will produce lots of revenue to build more bicycle infrastructure.